Archive for the ‘quieting your thoughts’ Tag

The logs crackled and snapped in the campfire as Jesus unfolded a large wool blanket and draped one end around my shoulders. Then He pulled the other end around His own shoulders and sat down on the log beside me as we faced the fire. The surf pounded on the beach nearby and tiny crabs ran into their holes to hide. Enjoying the beauty of His creation, the Lord breathed in the salty air and watched the night sky with pleasure as one by one the bright stars appeared above us. Soon we were surrounded by His galaxies in the canopy overhead.

Time always seems to be suspended when I am with Him like this. It does not pass, it just is. He is never in a hurry. He has all the time in the world. After all, He created time and it submits to Him. In one instant He can remove me from the cares and stress of life and transfer me into His timeless realm of peace, showing me where reality truly lies. It is as though life in the realm we consider real is only a tragic story in a book. Then we lift our eyes and close the book and are once again in the present reality of His realm of glorious life.

The warmth of Him close beside me dispelled the chill of the night air. Quietly now He sharpened the end of a long stick with a pocket knife. Then He reached into a bag of marshmallows and placed one on the end of the stick. Grinning at me, He held the stick over the fire. When the marshmallow was golden He pulled off the outer layer, as I had done as a child, and popped it into my mouth.

What detailed care He takes to surprise us with such small, yet wonderful encouragements of His love. The cares of many days rolled away as I sat on the beach, eating marshmallows with my friend, the Creator.

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Recently I read a posting on Elijahlist by Kathi Pelton regarding revelation the Lord had given her about peace. It seemed such vital information that I wanted to share it with you. She said:

Peace creates an atmosphere of blessing, but fear creates an atmosphere of warfare. The Holy Spirit spoke to me one day and said, “Fear is like bait for demons. They smell it and they gather to it in order to feast of its many delights. It gives strength to demons and leaves its victim weak and vulnerable.”

Then He went on to say, “Peace is absolute confusion to the enemy. He doesn’t recognize it; he cannot work within the atmosphere of peace because chaos and peace cannot coexist. Peace is the pathway to the banqueting table that I’ve prepared for you in the presence of your enemies. Peace is to fear like light is to darkness; it dispels it.”

This was one of the greatest revelations that I have ever received. Honestly, the majority of the warfare that I’ve faced in my life has come from lack of peace. The loss of peace increased my warfare, because fear came in and the enemy had an atmosphere that he could breathe and work in. As I have allowed the Holy Spirit to take me into deeper levels of peace I have found that it is an atmosphere of breakthrough. It is as if peace creates a portal that bypasses the enemy’s opposition on some level. As I have come into greater peace, I have also discovered that I can more clearly hear the voice of wisdom. Peace calms the storm and the noise produced by fear, allowing us to hear the counsel and wisdom of the Lord.

There is a place of peace that is unnatural to this realm. It is a peace in the midst of the storm, a peace in spite of circumstances. It cannot be understood by the natural mind and must be accessed and nurtured by the spirit.

It can come at the oddest times. Or so it seems. When things around you are very stressful and so many facts and options and ideas are pressing against you, demanding your attention, there comes a breath of something totally unrelated. It may be a memory or a fragrance that suddenly takes you back to another time or place. Or it may come at a time when you are just involved in your daily routine. But suddenly there is something different in your spirit, an instant quietness as if everything was just dialed down. For a few brief seconds you are able to see and sense things you could not before. Your spiritual eyes are opened to see into Heavenly realms.

When God pulls back the veil ever so slightly, eternity comes rushing in to envelop us. Then we realize once again that it was there all the time but we did not see. Like the mountains which surround the valley I live in, they are always there. But on a cloudy day they are completely invisible. It is only when the clouds roll back that their snowy peaks appear against the blue sky in such brilliance it brings tears to my eyes as I “look unto the hills from whence comes my help”. (Ps.121:1)

There is a hidden path of peace that we must find and learn to stay there. If you are very sensitive and anticipating His slightest touch, His hand will guide you and keep you on that path. Any feelings of anxiety are usually indications that you’re looking in the wrong direction, considering options that are not on the path set for you. “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee” (Isa.26:3)

There are moments when He breaks in so quietly and softly that we could easily miss it. They are invitations, like a hand reaching down. We can take His hand and escape with Him as He leads us into the perfect way He has planned for us. When these moments happen and we feel that Divine peace flooding in, we must pay attention and recognize that this is God, not something natural. It will take some effort to do this. If we ignore those moments as they flit past us, we are engulfed once again with the cares of this life and in a short time we have forgotten the small nudge from the Spirit.

We must pursue those moments when they come to us. Stop. Just stop where you are and be still, completely still. Search for that small opening like a light at the end of the tunnel and focus all your attention on it. Feel your emotions and mind and body relax completely in His presence and enter into His realm which was this close all along. Now you can go where He takes you and receive whatever He has for you. Even if you don’t quite make it into a vision or hear His voice, you will still become more aware of Him and His realm and it will have a profound and ongoing effect on you.

Recently I read a prophetic word online that brought such a rush of sweetness to my spirit. It said this:

“The seasons of time have changed. Eternity is now flooding into time. I am calling you into the ‘no time’ zone, the realm of eternity within you.”

We were created to be creatures of both realms – the earth realm and the heavenly realm. He has placed eternity in our hearts. (Ecc.3:11 NIV)

Oh God, I pray that You would make us increasingly AWARE of Your Presence and Your realm all around us.

“In the midst of the chaos of your life when you cannot seem to find My presence, stop and quiet your soul. Listen for My still, small voice within you. I am here. I promised to never leave you and I never will. Stop and quiet yourself as David did. (Ps.131:2) You will need to consciously dial down the noise of the outside world and step out of your realm and into Mine. I have given you this ability. You are not of this world even as I am not of this world. (John 17:14) (See archived postings under “Created for both realms”)

I hear you saying, “I can’t do this … it’s too hard … I don’t know how … I’m not strong enough.” And I agree! In fact I have already told you this long ago. Without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5) Ah, but beloved you are not without Me. I dwell within you. The good news is that I have already conquered all that you come against and all that comes against you. Since I am in you and you are in Me, you can do all things through Me because I strengthen you. (Phil.4:13) Let Me fill you with the peace of God and set you in the middle of chaos where My peace is needed. Stand back and watch as My peace flows out of you and into the people around you. You are plugged in to the power source of Heaven. It’s not about you or your strength but only the strength of your relationship with Me.

Many of My people question Me when they go through testing and training. They wonder if they have done something wrong and think I am punishing them. But this is an incorrect mindset. You haven’t done anything wrong – you are doing something right! You have passed the primary tests and now you can go on to the next level. You must be trained as a good soldier (2 Tm.2:3) so that you can become stronger and able to not only stand but overcome in the battle that is yet ahead. I would not be a good Father if I allowed my children to be lazy or disobedient and then elevated them to a position of responsibility that they were not able to handle. Children must be trained. No child likes the training (Heb.12:11) but the mature begin to understand and look forward to the challenge, knowing it will produce strength. You are being conformed into the image of Christ. There is nothing greater than that.

I am with you, beloved. I am for you. I will not allow you to be tested more than you are able to bear. (1 Cor.10:13 – the word ‘temptation’ in the King James can also be translated ‘discipline’.) You have given your life to Me. Now will you trust Me to know the best way to mold you into My image? Look ahead and see the final result of a spotless Bride who will rule and reign with Me for all eternity. You are preparing for that now. The Bride is making herself ready.” (Rev.19:7)

At the beginning of this new year there is nothing more important than to draw closer to the Lord, to draw away and spend time simply being quiet and alone with Him. We must quiet our spirits enough to realize His presence with us. He IS with us. He promised to be and He is, but we need to be made more aware of Him in the midst of all the noise of life here in this realm. This requires discipline on our part as well as help from Him.

In this post I want to help us do that by re-emphasizing things that have helped me draw closer to Him. Instead of writing the same things again, there are some past posts from this blog which were written for this reason. In fact, I’m reading them again myself! Here are a few:

There are also people whose writings have shown me that there is so much more, a life in God I never dreamed of. They are listed on my page of recommended reading. Among these are Rick Joyner. His book, The Final Quest opened the realm of visions and prophetic experiences for many of us and drew us into a much more intimate relationship with the Lord. Now he has written a new book called The Path. It is written in the same style as The Final Quest and is taken from his experiences in Heavenly realms with the Lord, with angels and many of the saints in Heaven. The revelation contained in this book is acutely important for understanding the times we are living in now. I want to take this opportunity to highly recommend this book to you. The link below will enable you to read the first chapter at no cost and/or to purchase the book or the e-book from Rick’s website. This is not a book to speed read but to read slowly, a little at a time, and meditate on. The Lord will give you new revelation and understanding of Him as you read.

Drawing aside with Jesus now is more than just a good idea. It’s crucial for the times we are in and our ability to not only stand, but be the over-comers He has called us to be. May His voice call you into the secret place with Him and may His love overcome all the distractions in your life so that you have eyes for Him alone.

If there are things we can do to help us enter into God’s realm, we need to also be aware of things that can keep us from ascending. After spending the last few months dealing with on-ramps into Heavenly realms, I thought it necessary to comment on specific things that can block our progress in each of the areas we have looked at. As a review, here are the on-ramps we have discussed.

God has extended an invitation to us through the open door of Rev. 4:1 to “Come up here”. He also tells us in Eph. 2:6 that we are seated with Him in Heavenly places. One of the most basic ways to access this reality is in learning to quiet ourselves, to listen for His voice, to be at peace. We discussed this at length in the postings from Dec. 3,’12, Dec. 17,’12 and also at the end of Dec. 31,’12.

If having a disciplined and quiet spirit is helpful in ascending into Heavenly realms with the Lord, then the opposite can actually prevent us from getting there. Although this seems obvious, it’s helpful to stop at times and take inventory. Most of us lead very busy lives. But how much of that busyness is actually necessary? Are we involved in things that will really count for eternity and bear fruit for His Kingdom? Are we spending quality time with the One we love? The spirit of this age is designed to keep us away from Him and even to trick us into being involved in busy work that is masked as ministry, especially in many churches. We can be running in circles always doing things, going to meetings, running programs, until any meaningful time with Him is edited out of the picture. It’s like eating less and less until finally we become sick and wonder why.

In very busy times of ministry and travelling I have had to rely on “in-flight refueling”… trying to spend time with the Lord on an overnight flight or finding a quiet place in an airport waiting lounge. This is at best like grabbing a snack here and there instead of a full meal. When I arrive at the place of ministry I’m always careful to explain that I need some time alone with the Lord. If I have no time with Him I’ll have nothing to give anyone else. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t since plans have already been made for me. Even in meetings where God is moving mightily and His Presence is tangible I find this is not a substitute for private time with Him alone. A corporate anointing is awesome and necessary but we can be swept along in that without ever being encountered personally. I simply must be with the One I love. And when I return home from that busy time I often find it so difficult to get back into spending that quiet time with Him that I have to start over as I did in the beginning by disciplining myself to just sit quietly and “be” with Him until He reprograms me back into intimacy once again. This is what I was created for and where my heart truly longs to be.

For many people, their time is not their own. They are responsible to families, employers and others who have need of them. Mothers with small children, caregivers and those with demanding jobs are in this category. Of course God understands this. This time in your life is temporary. Children grow up and jobs change. In some cases God may have a way out of a demanding job into something better for you. But even where you are now, if you stop and listen you will hear His voice calling you to quiet yourself and come to Him. He is not just another demand on your list. He’s in love with you and your heart longs for Him as well. Ask Him to create a space of time for you just to be with Him. I’ve seen Him do that. Then be very sensitive when that time appears out of nowhere. Remember that it’s for Him. Spend it with Him and you will be rewarded by His Presence and His peace.

Remember as always that this is a relationship, not a duty or a formula. We do not simply check Him off the list of things to do. This is a love affair!

If learning to quiet ourselves and spend time with Him is an on-ramp into Heavenly realms (and it is) then being too busy for Him, physically, mentally or emotionally is definitely something that can block us from getting there. He can help us fix this if we let Him.

Continuing from last week’s post, we are learning how to quiet ourselves and really enter into the presence of God.

In our busyness we miss many important things. But how do we learn to quiet ourselves? I do not wish to imply that this is a simple matter and those who don’t know how are somehow inferior. On the contrary, even people who are fairly quiet to begin with find it challenging to still their thoughts and focus only on the Lord. There are many reasons for this. The biggest reason is because we have an enemy who tries to block our communication with God. Since his time is shorter now, he has stepped up his attack. You’ve probably noticed this in the last several months. But the good news is that God, who is in us, is greater than the enemy who opposes us. ( 1 John 4:4 )

Let’s look at some practical things that may also help.

One of the first things we should do when our thoughts are disquieted is to go through a short mental checklist. What have we been watching on t.v. or the internet? What have we been reading? What have we been listening to, even in our choice of music? Sometimes we are subjected to these things not by our own choosing. However, they have negative effects regardless of how they entered. If there are things we need to repent of, that’s the first step. Repentence means being sorry enough to turn away from wrong and ask for the Lord’s help to keep us from repeating our sin. In this way we close the doors that have been opened to the enemy and we deny him access.

Our spiritual garments can become stained just because we live and walk in this world. Make it a practice daily to ask for cleansing from all that would come between you and the One you love.

Sometimes it’s a simple matter of displacement. If there is more of the world and its thoughts and ways in us than there is of God’s thoughts and ways, we will find ourselves in a dangerous position. We are in this world to change it, not to become like it. The solution is in God’s Word. Simply reading it on a regular basis will begin to change how you think and feel. Ask Him to show you how He feels about things and to align your thoughts with His.

Spending time with Jesus, really with Him, is the goal. More often than not, this will require much discipline of our mind, will and emotions. But this is not a religious exercise. It’s a desperate need to be with the One we love. When we try to sit quietly and focus on the Lord we will usually have to keep throwing out the parade of other things that comes trickling or flooding into our thoughts. Those thoughts may range from what we should be doing instead of sitting there, to the trouble we are in at the moment, to random things we haven’t thought of in years. We have to take authority over it all and command our thoughts to be silent and centered on the Lord. And we have to keep on doing it till we are finally quieted as David said in Psalm 131:2. “Surely I have behaved [adjusted, yielded] and quieted [silenced] myself as a child that is weaned of his mother.” (KJV with Hebrew meanings in brackets)

Is this really possible? Can we really reach a place where we can tune out or escape all the things that bombard us? There is a secret place in the Spirit realm where it is so quiet that every other voice is stilled. And in that place you can also hear the Lord’s voice. The distractions of the world are far away. When we are seated with Christ in the Heavens (Eph.2:6), wrapped in His loving embrace, we are above the reach of the enemy. Our perspective changes and we see things from above. He prepares us to bring Heaven to earth, to see His Kingdom come and His will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven. (Mt. 6:10)